It turns out, 49ers and Raiders had MVPs upstairs

That question arose during a TV sports-show debate, a forum that is the symbol of the intellectual evolution of the human species.

Pondering, I decided on Patrick Willis, the team’s rock. Then I threw out Willis and went with Jed York.

Wipe the coffee off your newspaper and let me explain.

York is not the Most Valuable Player, because he doesn’t play, but he is the Most Valuable Playa.

And it would be unfair to salute young York without throwing a similar bone to the recently departed Al Davis.

It’s crazy. Only one year ago, those two characters were the hood ornaments representing the ongoing collapses of their respective franchises.

Davis’ low stock was plummeting further in the wake of the JaMarcus Russell debaclepalooza. The Raiders‘ boss hadn’t made a great move in about a decade, and was on his way to firing yet another bad head coach.

York was the lead man and the new decider for the family that had run the mighty 49ers’ machine into the ground. Young Jed had had no head coach and no quarterback and no team structure, and no apparent shovel with which to dig out of the mess.

What happened?

With York, easy answer: He hired Jim Harbaugh.

He also made Trent Baalke the general manager.

Then he got the hell out of the way.

That’s what makes a great owner, at least that’s one formula. We’ll call it the Jerry Buss Formula. The Lakers’ owner has presided over a three-decade dynasty by hiring great minds, at top dollar, and giving them room – and money – to work.

Buss hires leaders the same way thoroughbred owners pick out their horses – by bloodlines. He employs people who have exhibited genius tendencies at a high level: Jerry West, Phil Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal.

Harbaugh was showing signs that he had the genius gene. The 49ers desperately needed a game-changer and Harbaugh was the only candidate who potentially fit that description. He was the hottest NFL head-coach candidate in recent years.

York snagged him. Maybe York got lucky. Maybe Harbaugh was ready to make the jump to the NFL and he saw the 49ers as the one team in which he instantly could seize near-complete control of the entire football operation.

But give York credit. When he went into marathon discussions with candidate Harbaugh, some people on the outside (OK, I was one) thought that might be a deal-killer. What if Harbaugh chats with York and Paraag Marathe for several hours and realizes he is being recruited to head up some rich kid’s Junior Achievement project?

So yes, some of us underestimated York (and Baalke and Marathe).

When it looked as if the 49ers would lose Harbaugh to a richer offer, York delivered. He was smart enough to realize that a high salary for a good head coach is the biggest bargain in sports. It doesn’t even count against the salary cap.

On his report card, York gets an “A” in chemistry. He figured out that Harbaugh and Baalke could be an effective team. Rather than strong-willed adversaries, these two are more like fishin’ buddies.

One more York plus: When Harbaugh and Baalke told him, “We want Alex Smith as our quarterback,” York didn’t spit out his Dr. Pepper and yank the lever for the trap door in front of his desk.

The Raiders are a much stranger deal. It’s almost mystical what has gone down in Oakland. For years, it seemed as if Davis selected head coaches by putting a pirate’s eye-patch on each eye and throwing a dart at photos of candidates no other team in the NFL would consider.

Did Davis get lucky late in his life? Or in Hue Jackson, did cagey Al spot the missing link: a coach strong enough to stand up to the players, smart enough to coach and motivate them, and reverential enough to the boss to cause the boss to cede much of his authority?

Stranger still, all those Davis-signature personnel moves that had backfired so hideously for years started to break his way.